


Waiting for the hint of a spark

by MerrythePhouka



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: I wanted to read something like this after the episode aired but didn't really find anything, M/M, hopefully it won't be too terrible, more tags and characters will be added if I manage to write more, pre- and during episode 149, so I guess I gotta write it myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21905266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerrythePhouka/pseuds/MerrythePhouka
Summary: He wasn't sure when exactly he stopped not existing. There was nothing for a while. He didn't know how could he remember that but for some reason he did. And then there he was. It all slowly came back to him. His name was Carlos. He was a scientist. And there was something very important he was missing.
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a lyric from I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie

He wasn't sure when exactly he stopped not existing. There was nothing for a while. He didn't know how could he remember that but for some reason he did. And then there he was. Standing in the middle of a fully equipped laboratory, with curly graying hair reaching his shoulders, prescription glasses and perfectly white labcoat. For a while he just stayed where he was, wondering what the hell just happened.  
Then it all slowly came back to him. His name was Carlos. He was a scientist. And there was something very important he was missing.  
He started by getting into the tiny flat above his lab. It wasn't much, just one room with a kitchen corner and old couch (that definitely wasn't doing well for his back) and small bathroom. But it was home. Or it should have been. It all felt wrong though. Too small. Too empty. And too lonely. Carlos caught himself expecting someone to wait for him there. But no. No loving presence. No welcoming voice greeting him when he walked in. He wasn't sure why exactly he expected anything. He was single ever since before he arrived to Night Vale. Wasn't he?  
There was a voice heard from the lab. Several voices, in fact. Carlos froze for a while, wondering who they belong to. Then, several names came to his mind. Nilanjana. Rachelle. Dave. Before he got back to the lab, he also remembered Mark, Luisa and Stan. And for some reason something about potatoes?  
The scientists in the lab looked as confused as he felt, looking around and trying to make sense of what happened. Once he entered the lab, he was met with stares, at first full of surprise, then slow recognition.  
“C-Carlos?” a dark-skinned woman gasped. She, just like the others, was dressed in a labcoat similar to his.  
“Nilanjana,” he repiled, hoping he is not wrong. Her smile ensured him he wasn’t.  
***  
It took them a while to settle down, but returning to existence probably does that to you. Everyone was desperate to regain any semblance of normalcy as soon as possible. Except the process was getting interrupted by constant new memories and realizations. Most of them concerned past jobs, relationships and jobs. Lot of the memories got triggered by minor things, like the way sunlight reflected on the floor below windows or the order the Erlenmeyer flasks were put in.  
Carlos still felt like something was missing though. Something... or someone. Yes, that made more sense. He could almost feel a probably human shape holding him in a protective hug. He was sure that this someone would be taller than him, but that didn’t help very much. Large amount of people he could think of were taller than him. There was also a voice. Deep, soft baritone showering him with words of love and adoration. But any name or even a face was still escaping him.  
His thoughts were interrupted by the other scientists’ excited voices. Stan just remembered that he has a dog. Carlos remembered him, a large, green, two-headed pupper who could sing lovely songs in weird spanish. Well, with one of his heads at least. The other one usually stuck to beatboxing. That gave Carlos an idea. Maybe he had some pets too! Maybe, if he had a pet and found it, it could bring back more memories.  
He told the other scientists that he is going outside. He actually wanted to crawl in his bed and sleep for days more, but it didn’t feel right. He had to get to the bottom of this. Find out what is missing.  
Outside was hot and bright. For some reason it surprised him, even though he already remembered that Night Vale was in a desert and should have expected it. And be used to it.  
“Everything is not alright yet,” he muttered and looked around. There were only few cars on the streets and even less people. They seemed to be going to work or running errands, as if nothing happened.  
There was a building he recognized next to the lab, Big Rico’s Pizza. Carlos walked in.  
“Morning Mr. Scientist!” the owner’s voice boomed the moment he was inside. “Would you like the usual?”  
Carlos didn’t remember what Big Rico meant, but nodded nontheless. His investigation can continue over something to eat. And who knows, maybe it could even help. Soon he will probably will be too busy to even bother with food.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos takes notes and finds some memories.

“Morning Mr. Scientist!” the owner’s voice boomed the moment he was inside. “Would you like the usual?”  
Carlos didn’t remember what Big Rico meant, but nodded nontheless. His investigation can continue over something to eat. And who knows, maybe it could even help. Soon he will probably will be too busy to even bother with food. The owner of the restaurant nodded but didn’t move. For a few moments (except not really, because time wasn’t real of course) he just stared at the notebook in his hands.  
“Would you mind telling me what that is? Memory still bit fuzzy,” he sighed eventually.  
“I am a scientist,” Carlos said and Rico nodded knowingly. “I will figure it out. But I think I’ll have a coffee.”  
Big Rico left and Carlos looked around the restaurant. There weren’t many people inside, just a couple of sheriff’s secret policepeople and several angels in the back of the room. Good. That meant noone will disturb him while doing science. In this case science involved him trying to figure out what the hell is the most important thing he is missing. Looking around again he made sure none of the guests are watching him. Then he pulled a notepad and a tiny piece of a pencil out of his pocket. Carlos wasn’t sure why it didn’t come back from nonexistence as a full pencil but at least it won’t get as much attention. Just to be sure, he dragged a saltshaker next to his hand to hide the pencil even better. He didn’t need to get arrested so soon after he started existing again.  
‘WHAT I KNOW,’ was what he wrote at first. It was a good beginning. He liked to put his thoughts in order. 

  * My name is Carlos
  * I am a scientist
  * I am not from Night Vale



He wrote few more notes concerning his work and colleagues. Before he was finished with that, his coffee was brought and he realized that he would really like to eat some wheatless pizza with mushrooms, two kinds of cheese and lost dreams of distant places and shining stars. He told Big Rico about it. The man immediately brightened up.   
“I knew it! Must be why I spent ten minutes just staring at the box of lost dreams… Anything else?”  
Carlos wanted to ask what else should he want, but Big Rico just waved his hand.   
“Eh, don’t worry about it! My mistake, I didn’t realize you’re here alone today.”  
Before Carlos could ask what that meant, he was gone again. The scientist stared at the eye floating in his coffee cup, absentmindedly fiddling with a metal loop that circled his ring finger. It took him a while to realize what he was doing.   
“Oh,” he muttered then. “OH!” Hydroxide, suggested his brain, trying to be helpful, but Carlos dismissed the idea. It’s not exactly answering the questions he is dealing with, he explained to his brain.   
“Plus I remember hydroxide and it is definitely not the very important thing I am missing,” he added out loud. “We have some hydroxide in the lab for sure. This is something I certainly won’t find in there.” Then he asked: “Am I married?” It was a question aimed for his brain, but he soon realized that he spoke loudly again, since he noticed some of the sheriff’s secret policepeople turning towards him. Carlos instinctively hid the pencil in his palm and gave them a questioning look.   
“You sure are, judging by the ring, Mr. Scientist,” said the nearest policeperson and adjusted their balaclava. “I was wondering why you came alone actually, isn’t it like a date night today?”  
Carlos wanted to tell the policeperson that it’s actually not a night, or at least it wasn’t when he came in, even though it’s all fairly unnecessarry with time not being real and all, but stopped when he realized they just confirmed what he already realized. He was a married man. But who was he married to? In his mind he ran a list of all the men he could think of. It was surprising how many people he managed to recall in the short moment, but none of them really fit. They were real, for sure, but they just didn’t feel right. And something was still missing.  
Then there was a noise. Nothing specific, just a distorted white noise, coming from somewhere in the back of the restaurant. Carlos got up, the tiny pencil slipping out of his hand and on the floor covered in colorful swirls. He ignored the voice of a secret policeperson, who noticed and was trying to get his attention, probably to arrest him for carrying an illegal subject. He just followed the noise around the bar and into the kitchen.  
Big Rico looked up from the tiny radio he was trying to tune.   
“Would you believe this thing isn’t working? They always work!”   
Then he noticed who is he talking to.  
“Oi, Mr. Scientist, you shouldn’t be here! Personnel only, y’know!”  
Carlos ignored him. The distortion got louder and completely filled his brain. Then there was a voice. It was unintelligible and fragmented, but it was there. And with the voice came a name.  
“Cecil?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* No beta, no corrections, no ability to put my thoughts together properly. Thank you for surviving this though, I will try to write the next chapter as soon as possible. Not sure if it'll be during next week though, exams are starting and I will have to deal with conservation and restoration in museums and the history of middle ages first. Anyway, hope you have great end of the year and great start of the next!


End file.
